The housing question has always been topical in Russia. Over the past 30 years since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia has developed a functioning real estate and construction sector in a market economy. The tenure structure of the Russian housing stock should be analyzed in relation to the ownership structure. The contemporary tenure structure in Russia has been largely determined by the mass giveaway privatization of public (state and municipal) housing following the demise of the Soviet Union. The social housing sector in Russia is rather small and based on the non-privatized portion of Soviet-era public housing. The historical evolution of the housing regime in contemporary Russia has been determined by the legacy of the 70-year period of state socialism, a decade of socio-economic turbulence following the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the transition to a market economy, as well as the economic rebound in the 2000s.